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North Seeks Council Seat

North Seeks Council Seat image
Parent Issue
Day
31
Month
January
Year
1973
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Lisa Northn urban studies major at the University, is a candidate for the Human Rights Party's City Council nomination ;in the S e c o n d Ward. In the Feb. 19 primary, her opponents will be David Sinclair, Alexander Stevenson and Frank Shochet. In her statement of candidacy Ms. North said: "There are four people running in the HRP primary for City Council in the Second Ward. Each has a different political perspective on HRP, social change, what issues should be stressed, and what constituency is important for the party to reach. The outcome to this primary will help to determine the future perspective of the whole party. "The local Democratie Party supposedly progressive, has failed to support ordinances and resolutions which challenge the existing power structure, including the business interests of the Ann Arbor community. A coalition of Democrats and Republicans voted down HRP legislation for tenant's rights. Proposed HRP resolutions on rent control can expect to meet the same fate. Democrats and Republicans defeated several anti-war resolutions aimed at corporations that do war research, as well as simple resolutions criticizing the war. Strong sections of antistrike breaking legislation went down to defeat, and HRP sponsored consumer protection legislation lies buried in a council committee. The Democrats would like to keep them buried as they so not intend to vote in favor of any of these proposals. All HRP attempts to get more community control of the police have met with severe opposition and criticism." "The HRP must continue to speak out on issues that the other parties ignore. We should continue to use council and our campaigns as a platform to raise the demands for women's rights, community control of public services, steeply graduated income taxes, gay rights and all the other parts of the HRP platform." "We must reorient the funding priorities of the city to reflect the need of residents for community services. Less money should be spent on pólice ahd administrative salaries, and more money for child care, health care, transportation and housing." "As a radical councilwomen I would do more than go to council, raise issues, and vote. I would actively participate in movements for social change outside council and help cali attention to local strikes, student protests, and demonstrations for services such as child care." "The concerns of students and other residents of Ann Arbor go far beyond the city limits and certainly can not be remedied by the occasional passage of radical city ordinances. Industrial pollution or significant redistribution of wealth for example can not be solved on a local level. Rather, these problems concern American society generally and the real need is for social change in America as a whole. "I believe strongly that the Democratie party can not be reformed and can not become the vehicle for this meaning social change. In every campaign includihg the most recent, the Democratie party has shown its basic commitment to the business community, rich party contributors, and the f ree enterprise system. The recent nomination of Strauss, politically a conservative and close friend of John Connally, to head the Democratie party shows that the party is not going to make basic changes in how it operates or what its politics are." "I see my candidacy as part of a commitment to building a political movement capable of creating fundamental change in American society. It is important for the national movement, and HRP at the local level to expand beyond its present student base. Therefore, working people and minority groups should be s e e n as an important group to reach." "Third p a r t i e s promote identification with other oppressed groups, link up various mass movements, and I give people involved in those I movements a broader 1 spective and more accurate I perception of American I ty." Ms. North has been active I in HRP since March.1972 and was co-chair of HRP's City Council committee last fall. I She is endorsed by the Choco_late Almond caucus of HRP. i